David Drew: NCAA tournament appearance icing on cake for WMU basketball team that excelled on all fronts

BUFFALO, N.Y. – When the Western Michigan men’s basketball team saw the school logo pop up on CBS on selection Sunday, the Broncos were winners regardless of who they played or how their NCAA tournament game ended.

There’s a reason mid-major teams are called Cinderellas when they win a few games in the NCAA tournament. It’s because making the big dance is icing on the cake for a successful season and any wins that come after that are a few more scoops of ice cream on the side.

Facing Syracuse in Buffalo, less than two hours from its campus, was a terrible matchup for the Broncos, but that’s the life of many mid-major programs in the NCAA tournament.

The Broncos weren’t able to handle the first punch Syracuse threw with its quick zone defense and overwhelming crowd support. The game was decided well before halftime in the 77-53 loss to the Orange on Thursday.

To expect WMU to beat a Syracuse team that held the No. 1 ranking in the country for a good stretch of the season was ludicrous.

Expectations have to be met with reality. The reality in Kalamazoo is that WMU men’s basketball success is measured by Mid-American Conference championships, not national championships.

Given where some of their statistical rankings stood both in the conference and nationally, the Broncos might have over-achieved by winning 23 games this season, which is the third-highest total in program history.

Individually, head coach Steve Hawkins was named the MAC Coach of the Year. Seniors David Brown and Shayne Whittington were named to the All-MAC First Team and were candidates for MAC Player of the Year. Connar Tava received honorable mention recognition and Tucker Haymond was named to the All-MAC Freshman Team.

“When you look at the year that we did have and you look at the accolades that the student-athletes and coaches have, it’s been an incredible year,” WMU athletic director Kathy Beauregard said after Thursday’s game.

Western Michigan men's basketball coach Steve HawkinsAP file photo

Hawkins was asked a few times leading up to Thursday’s game about the 10-year gap between NCAA tournament appearances for WMU, which last played in the national tournament in 2004. The tone in which some of those questions were asked suggested the underlying query was, “Why did it take you so long?”

Western Michigan University first put a men’s basketball team on the court in 1913. The NCAA tournament began in 1939. Hawkins has coached two of the four WMU teams that made it to the big dance.

Maybe the MAC was a little down this year in terms of overall talent, but why should that demean the Broncos’ achievements?

WMU had a lot of success against the best the MAC had to offer this year. The Broncos swept Ohio, beat Akron twice, including in the league tournament, and won two out of three from Toledo, which seemed to be everyone’s darling pick to win the conference tournament.

What the Broncos did this year is impressive, especially for a program that budgets court time with WMU’s women’s basketball, volleyball, and women's gymnastics programs because it doesn’t have a practice facility. University Arena also lacks a fully functional scoreboard and there are soft spots on its aging wood surface.

Just minutes after a tough loss to end a superb season, Hawkins was asked about next year and whether WMU could have the same success.

His answer wasn’t surprising.

“Yeah, we expect to contend every year,” he said. We’ve won our division, I don’t know, something like seven of the 11 years I’ve been there, and we’ve been towards the top of the league for the great majority of the time. We were able to do it this year, and we’ve been very competitive. We expect to do that every year.”

There will be new challenges next year.

The Broncos will return three starters in Austin Richie, Tucker Haymond and Connar Tava. They will have to find a new starting center, whether it’s A.J. Avery, Kellen McCormick, Mario Matasovic, or incoming freshman Drake Lamont.

WMU will need a new David Brown, a scorer that can take over the game. Freshman Tucker Haymond could further develop into that kind of player, or there is redshirt freshman Leo Svete, or maybe WMU is still out searching for the next DB.

And so the circle of life continues for Western Michigan the in mid-major world, where the right ingredients have to come together in the right order to form something great.

Critics will be critics and will never be pleased for more than a day.

But, for a second, enjoy this recipe because the cake turned out pretty good this year.